Gridcoin (GRC) SHA256/SHA256d Mining Pool Setup — Compatibility Tests Before Launch
Before you deploy a Gridcoin pool, confirm your build supports SHA256/SHA256d Stratum mining end-to-end. Many “coin pages” skip this step; this one doesn’t—because compatibility mistakes waste hashrate and damage miner trust.
GRC compatibility first: confirm the mining path is real
Start with an uncomfortable question: does your GRC daemon produce usable templates for SHA256/SHA256d miners, and does the chain accept submitted solutions? If the answer isn’t proven in staging, don’t put real miners on it.
- Template sanity: Confirm `getblocktemplate` (or equivalent) returns data your pool core understands.
- Submit test: Submit a known-good solution path in a controlled environment to prove end-to-end acceptance.
- Node sync signals: Define what “healthy” means (tip height, peers, headers) and alert when GRC deviates.
- Accounting invariants: Ensure your ledger rules survive orphans and that balances never go negative due to a reorg.
GRC stack choice after validation: Yiimp, Miningcore, or custom
Once you’ve verified the mining path, select the pool core based on the operational model you want to maintain.
- Yiimp-based: Works well for a web-first pool UI and quick operator workflows; see .
- Miningcore: Good for a clean API and service separation; see .
- Custom validation harness: For uncertain chains, we can build a small harness that exercises GRC RPC/template paths before committing to a full pool deployment.
If the daemon cannot reliably build templates, no amount of Stratum tuning will fix the pool—verify chain compatibility first.
GRC verification scope (daemon, templates, shares, payouts)
- GRC daemon build audit: Record version, compile flags, and RPC help output so you know exactly what you are deploying.
- Template + submit validation: Exercise template creation and submission paths and log every failure with enough context to reproduce.
- Share pipeline: Configure share ingestion and difficulty updates to match expected miner behavior and network latency.
- Payout model wiring: After block validation, wire payouts and verify confirmations/maturity behavior; see and .
- UI with correctness cues: Make the dashboard show block states clearly (pending/confirmed/orphan) to set miner expectations.
- Security + monitoring: Harden RPC, restrict ingress, and alert on template failures; see .
If you run other SHA256 coins, keep GRC in a separate staging lane until it has passed acceptance tests; then promote it with isolated keys and databases.
GRC miner connection example and troubleshooting hooks
When you publish GRC endpoints, include one short “what to check” list so miners can self-diagnose: DNS, port reachability, and whether their username is valid.
stratum+tcp://POOL-DOMAIN:3333
stratum+ssl://POOL-DOMAIN:3443For chains with uncertain compatibility, add an operator-only endpoint that logs template and submit errors at higher verbosity.
GRC validation notes: RPC coverage, address types, and reindexing
- GRC RPC coverage map: Inventory which RPC endpoints exist in your daemon build; pools often need template, submit, and block lookup calls.
- Address/script types: Confirm what address formats GRC accepts for payouts; reject unsupported scripts early to avoid failed sends.
- Reindex and resync plan: Decide how you recover from corrupted indexes (reindex, rescan, bootstrap) and document the steps before an incident happens.
GRC launch safety checks (staging → production)
- Build a staging GRC node and verify it stays synced under restart and network churn.
- Run template and submit-path tests until failures are understood and reproducible.
- Attach a small set of miners and observe stale share rate, job switching, and difficulty update behavior.
- Enable dashboards that clearly mark blocks as pending, confirmed, or orphaned.
- Execute a low-value payout test and reconcile ledger totals against on-chain data.
- Gate production promotion on measurable signals: tip lag thresholds, error rates, and wallet stability.
- Back up configs and databases, then practice a full restore and resync procedure.
GRC pool FAQs
How do I confirm my GRC build actually supports SHA256 Stratum mining?
Use a staging node and pool core to request templates and submit a controlled solution path. If the chain never accepts submissions, you need a different daemon build or configuration before going live.
Can you run a “validation-only” GRC deployment first?
Yes. We can deploy nodes plus a minimal Stratum/backend that logs templates and submissions without opening public registrations.
What should the GRC dashboard show to avoid confusion?
Show block state transitions clearly: found → pending → confirmed (or orphan). This prevents miners from assuming every found block is already payable.
Does GRC need different vardiff targets than other SHA256 coins?
Targets depend on your miner population and database capacity. After compatibility is proven, we tune share rate and latency behavior like any other SHA256 pool.
What if the GRC daemon is missing an RPC call my pool core expects?
We either map to an equivalent method, patch the integration layer, or change pool core assumptions. The first step is always an RPC inventory from `-help` output.
Planning a GRC pool and want a sanity check before launch? Contact us and include your daemon version plus the results of any staging compatibility tests.